Chasing Air
by HarvestedHeart
Summary: Cover by JudgeGooby on Deviantart. "I remember him."Sakura said simply, turning her head to look at the man clearer. Realistic AU in which Sakura meets Itachi again and again over the years, and, despite knowing that he's a fugitive from justice, does everything but judge him.


It's that time of year again, my friend. That lovely spring day where all anyone wants to do is smash their ineffectual, weak fists into walls, where everyone feels the extremes of emotions. Elation stands in the same crowd as crushed despair and sadness, mocking it though words are never exchanged. Silent tears dot every corner, every sidewalk.

Yep, it's that damn Valentine's Day again.

At Konoha Primary School, red construction paper hearts dot each and every entranceway. Teachers have been making out in the supply closets, attempting desperately to unwrinkle their clothing before entering class, not that the students have the knowledge to pick that kind of thing up yet (aside from that Yamanaka kid…she's quite perceptive when it comes to this). Students sit at desks with red and pink boxes near them, ready to be filled with those chaste Valentines the others are meant to have made for them.

The teacher of Class 2B walks amongst the desks like some sort of Moses parting the Red Sea, smiling at each of the children reading their own little notes. It is mandatory to give each classmate one, in the hopes that it will make them feel appreciated, happy, perhaps even become a childhood memory rooted in goodness and nostalgia. Everyone needs them to recall, the teacher knows. After all, she's in the process of a messy divorce, has squabbles with the administration every single day over her paycheck.

God knows her memories are all that's keeping her afloat.

As she walks down the lines of straight, miniscule desks, pencil cases in the shapes of animals laying on them, she never sees the little pinkette slumped over her desk.

_You have such a big, ugly forehead! Are you a monkey?_

_Nobody likes you, stop trying to talk to me! You have no friends!_

Scribbled on hand-drawn, beautifully camouflaged "Valentines" that Haruno Sakura clutches in her tiny hands, cutting into her heart piece by piece.

* * *

At recess, she sits alone under a tall willow, barely breathing and trying hard not to cry.

"I hate them…" A whisper, soon lost to the wind. "They should know…they should know…"But she can't finish the sentence, for she hasn't the breath or will to continue speaking her thoughts when no one will ever hear. What's the point? She is nothing, a little cherry blossom that can only drift in wind and water, powerless to stop itself or change its course.

She can see her sometimes friend Yamanaka Ino playing soccer with the other kids from where she sits.

Ino used to really be good at it, aiming the ball and propelling it into the net with an accuracy that rivaled some of the boys. That was, of course, before she started stealing her mother's lipstick and laughing in that strange way all the time.

* * *

**A few weeks earlier**

"Hey Sakura, what do you think of that boy over there?" Ino pointed her head in the direction of a classmate with dark hair that stuck up in the back, a boy from the other class, 2A. Sakura noticed that he had coal-colored eyes as he swung his head around, not looking at them but at the expanse of the field itself.

He was currently occupied with practicing his own athletic prowess, taking the class equipment and using it in turns, first the basketball, then the bat, and so on. He smiled while brandishing each, clearly amused, uncaring that several classmates were watching him in awe.

Ino was not one of them. She looked at the boy as if she were somehow responsible for his skill, even though Sakura couldn't see why she would be. Ino had never actually talked to him before, though she certainly talked about him a lot. Especially to Sakura.

"He's….okay." Sakura replied, genuinely not-seeing the point of the exercise with Ino. Previously, Ino had said Sakura needed to work on being "more cool" and had said she was giving her lessons in the skill, however that seemed like it had solely consisted of Ino giving her the red headband to look cuter. Sakura hadn't exactly seen why wearing that made her big forehead cute instead of exaggerating it, but Ino had insisted, even pouted about how much money someone had to pay for those headbands. And so Sakura began to wear it out of guilt.

"He's cute." It's not a retort but a simple statement of fact. "I think his name is Sasuke."

"Oh."

"You want to go and talk to him?"

"Not really." Sakura really wants to do what she did before Ino began teaching her how to be cool. It's not that she's not grateful, but she wants to walk around the field again to collect the different specimens of leaves and plants. She used to categorize them by smell, touch, color, whatever pleased her, and then go hunting for some more. Once, the teachers had to pull her miniscule fingers away from a mushroom in a shade of glorious dark red, shouting that it was poisonous.

She didn't touch it again but was fascinated, watching it almost as if it could crawl away at any moment every recess. Her wide green eyes never left it, and she even placed a box over it sometimes to protect it from the other kids at play.

It was unorthodox, a girl protecting a poisonous plant. But she enjoyed studying it, enjoyed knowing that it could kill and wondering what else it might be able to do.

Of course, she never tried to eat or touch it again; she knew the teachers were right, it would kill her.

"Oh well." Ino stood up brusquely. "I'm going. See you later." But she doesn't look back; even to see Sakura's expectant eyes waiting for a glance.

Other girls meet Ino along her way and begin a large conversation, eventually swaying Ino from talking to Sasuke, but satisfying her nonetheless. She laughs and smiles as they talk, runs off to do whatever with them, leaving Sakura and the promise of Sasuke behind.

_Huh._ Sakura thinks to herself. _I guess she really wasn't that interested in him anyway. _

* * *

The rest of the day goes on the way Sakura's days normally go.

That is to say, she gets passed notes telling her about her hideous forehead in every class, hears laughter behind her every time she turns to look at someone, gaping forehead facing them. They take so much pride in their silent joke.

"Sakura…." Another girl, someone from class 2A who she doesn't know hands her an eraser. "You scratched…up y-your paper."

She's a little taller than Sakura, but she looks like she could blend into the whitewash walls, no problems aside from a short hime-cut of hair so dark it begins to turn blue in this bare light. Her nails, Sakura notices, are small and bitten, and she's smiling while chewing her lip.

"Thank you." Sakura takes the eraser before remembering the girl's name and repeating. "Thank you, Hinata-chan."

* * *

She's packed her bag for the day, is standing in line with the rest for the bus, a glint of silence in the midst of a ruckus made as the other students have to be controlled, forced back into line by teachers.

I can toe the line. After all, it's not as if I have anything better to do.

After the teachers have abandoned them, she feels something harsh knock her bag off her shoulders, a sound of laughter as the wind's knocked, harsh and swiftly, out of her. While she struggles to breath, the bag splays out on the ground, contents scattering, a pen falling into the gutter with a rattling sound.

"Haaaah…" She struggles to stand, but the lack of oxygen forces her into the pavement once again, even as she hears the bus begin to roar down the road. Even as she sees the other kids pile onto the seats, hears the door close with a snap..

"Wait!" She's finally on her feet, she's just gathering her stuff, she can breath again, it's okay now, just wait…

And the bus is gone already. Sighing, she pulls herself up after collecting the supplies and slings the backpack, dirt-encrusted and no longer pretty, up onto her shoulders.

* * *

"Excuse me…"She taps the back of a tall man. "I'm lost…"

It's around five o'clock, the time she should be home long past, sky already beginning to turn gray. The street itself is littered with old bottles smelling vaguely of liquor and discarded ashtrays, birds pecking at the remains of something that might once have been food. Sakura isn't scared though, just hoping that this time, she will make it home.

The man turns around to reveal red-rimmed eyes staring at her.

"Pretty little thing like you? Lost?" The man smiles, opening his mouth to reveal blackening teeth and the smell of alcohol like an aura permeating the space around him. "You not sure what way home is?"

"Yes." Sakura smiles, grateful someone understands. "Do you know where I could go…"

And suddenly the man is not looking at her but behind her, eyes slightly dazed.

"Sir?" She says again, trying to get his attention desperately. "I…"

"What the hell?" The man only rasps at whatever is behind her. "You're just a fucking kid…"

She turns around to see a taller dark-haired boy, maybe a middle-schooler, standing behind her. He's wearing jeans and a hooded jacket, slightly stained, but what holds Sakura's attention is the large, silver-chrome pistol he's pointing at the man.

So shiny…Sakura thinks of her mushroom. Deadly, but so pretty…

The boy says nothing, only gestures at the man with the pistol, then pointing off in another direction. The man takes the hint and, cursing under his breath, leaves the scene talking about "what I must have smoked..what'd they give me this time…"

Sakura suddenly recovers herself and twists around to see the older boy's face, her own features mashed into a mask of childish rage.

"See what you did? He was going to help me get home!"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to trust strangers?" The boy's voice is that of moderate irritation as he stares at the dirty backpack and clothes of the pink-haired girl before him. "Whose brat are you anyway?"

She merely stares back at him with a silent pout until he asks again, forcibly twisting her face towards him as his own dark eyes bear down on her jade ones. "What's your name?" His voice is cold, barely masking his own annoyance at this child clearly suffering from chronic stupidity.

"Haruno Sakura." She repeats it mechanically before suddenly beginning to bawl, tears rolling down her chubby cheeks in quick succession, rolling into her open mouth, tasting of salt. "I..I'm lost!"

"Goddamn." The boy suddenly reaches out and grips her left hand sternly. "Do you live downtown or uptown? Downtown is where the fountain is, uptown is where the clocktower is, okay?"

"Clocktower." Her voice, still hoarse and recovering from the momentary burst of tears, is so quiet he has to ask her to repeat it before pulling her towards another street, at the same time tucking the pistol into one large pocket in that navy-colored jacket.

* * *

He walks with a sort of agitated speed, forcing Sakura to hurry up every individual step, occasionally berating her for slowing down or even looking at passerbys for too long. However, every time a person looks directly at him, he smiles politely before dragging her along once again, Sakura sees. She also notices that the jacket is so large on him, it hides the bulge of the pistol perfectly.

They walk along streets until eventually he stops her and picks something up off the ground.

A piece of red construction paper cut in the shape of a mangled heart formed into a card.

He opens it and reads the message inside, eyebrows drawing inward as he eventually pockets it as well. To nobody in particular, he then iterates:

"Valentine's Day."

After that, he does not drag Sakura as much as lets her catch up to him. Occassionally, he even looks off into the horizon with an impassive stare before turning around and looking at the girl herself with something almost like empathy in his eyes.

"My classmates…"She mistakes his glance for confusion and attempts to explain.

"Yeah, yeah. I have a brother about your age, I know how they are." After the mention of a brother, his voice becomes noticeably more unsure of itself, and after mentioning him, there is no more talk as they navigate streets together and the sky darkens up above.

* * *

"Sakura!" Haruno Mebuki wraps her arms around the little girl before turning to the older boy with the dark hair and eyes standing silently on her porch. He's quite familiar-looking, she thinks, with those serious eyes and that tall frame….

"Thank you." She says to him. "My husband and I were looking everywhere for her…"

"Well, next time, do a better job watching her. Then maybe you'd know what was going on." The harshness in the boy's voice, condemning and scornful, shocks her as he hands her the Valentine's card. After a quick glance at the girl, he leaves, silently cursing as he walks down another street, hands tightening as he places them in the pockets of his jacket.

"Okaa-san?" Sakura squeaks as Mebuki unfolds the Valentine's card. "I'm hungry."

* * *

"Why didn't you tell us?" They ask, again and again.

She doesn't answer but continues eating, instead thinking silently of what her response would be to the question that keeps reiterating itself tonight.

_I wasn't sure you'd want to know._

* * *

_Next Morning_

**"Emergency News Report this morning… Thirteen-year old Uchiha Itachi, child prodigy and recent graduate of Konoha Tech University, is currently on the run from the law as a suspect in a recent mass murder. His entire extended family barring one survivor have been found dead this morning by law enforcement. They were alerted by a neighbor who heard screaming the previous night. His father, Uchiha Fugaku, was a respected high-ranking leader of the National Police of which several members of his extended family were also part of. Details are still coming in about the attack itself, but the lone survivor, the suspect's brother Uchiha Sasuke, aged eight is currently in the custody of what remains of the National Police. Stay tuned for more information on the case… Remember to report any sightings of the suspect as he is considered armed and dangerous. Citizens are warned."**

_R&R please! This is my first attempt at a more realistic type of ItaSaku. I'm not generally used to writing it that much, so I hope I did alright for this chapter and that some are interested. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
